The article calls it an "attack," but that's wrong. It's a hardware crack that requires physical access to the car, probably a fair bit of disassembly, and decent technical skills.
This crack would probably void the warranty. It might earn the owner Elon's wrath and punishment, maybe to the extent of having the car factory-bricked. So I doubt that many Tesla owners will try it. Still, it's not that hard to imagine that some would - some because they want to master the machine; some for the social media views and profit; some just because they can. If you're a Tesla owner, would you? Will you? Why or why not? And given the fact that physical access is necessary, does this say anything significant about Tesla's data security? ----- Berlin researchers hacked Tesla autopilot to unlock "Elon mode" Updated on: December 29, 2023 12:38 PM Three IT security researchers from Technische Universitaet Berlin (TU Berlin) glitched Tesla's driving assistant into activating a powerful "Elon mode" and were able to access the company's secrets, [German news magazine Der] Spiegel reported. Allegedly, all Tesla models are vulnerable to this attack. With tools that cost around 600 euros, TU Berlin students Christian Werling, Niclas Kühnapfel, and Hans-Niklas Jacob induced a short two-second voltage drop by 560 millivolts and rooted the ARM64-based circuit board of Tesla's autopilot. The voltage glitch enabled researchers to extract arbitrary code and user data from the system, including cryptographic keys and important system parts, allowing them to reconstruct how it works ... The "Elon mode" ... allows Tesla vehicles to self-drive without any driver input or monitoring ... [The modification] could also enable premium features for free ... [and] requires physical access to the circuit board, removing and reinstalling it without damage, and soldering skills. Full story: https://cybernews.com/tech/berlin-researchers-hacked-tesla-autopilot/ Original Der Spiegel article https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/gadgets/tesla-berliner-hacker-knacken-den- autopilot-a-792d7095-e7ce-4ead-96af-11feec00761a Unfortunately the Speigel article is paywalled. Here's another open-access story based on that article. https://24hoursworlds.com/automobile/611051/ David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Curdled milk, made after a Bulgarian recipe and called "yaghurt," is now a Parisian fad and is believed to be a remedy against growing old. A correspondent who has tried it says he would prefer to die young. -- The Elk Falls Journal, 1905 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
